Community, Culture, and Connection

February 2021

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

45 Stories for 45 Years

Contributor: Charise Fong, Interim CEO and COO, EBALDC

February is a time to celebrate both the Lunar New Year and Black History Month. I’ve been thinking a lot about unity and solidarity of our BIPOC communities here in Oakland and the Bay Area. How it comes from recognizing our shared experiences. And how it is built through relationships, one at a time.

I spent my childhood in SF’s Chinatown and Visitacion Valley, communities much like the ones EBALDC works in today. My dad was born and raised in SF’s Chinatown. My mom as a teenager came with her mother to find a better life than the one they left behind in the war-torn countryside of southern China.  My parents’ families found places to call home in Chinatowns. Though these were neighborhoods considered very “low income”, to my family they were rich in community, culture, and connection. 

My family’s experiences drew me to community development and to EBALDC. At the core of EBALDC’s Healthy Neighborhoods vision is a shared belief and commitment to the strength, health and resiliency of our neighborhoods and communities. We have seen what is possible if we work closely with our community, public and private partners, and most importantly with our community members and residents. 

My EBALDC journey has been fueled by the relationships I have been blessed to have. I think a lot about one relationship in particular, with Marilyn Lawson, an resident living who lived at Lion Creek Crossings. She was an active community organizer and advocate, especially when it came to providing opportunities for East Oakland youth. On her own, she organized a community health resource fair every summer. She was a core member of the Block By Block Organizing Network. Miss Marilyn held everyone to account, even EBALDC, to ensure support for community resources. Yet even as we sometimes worked through genuine and challenging conflict, behind the scenes she would tell me how much it mattered to her that, at the end of the day, EBALDC was there to support her. 

Miss Marilyn knew her neighborhood to be a place of community, culture, and connection. And she fought for the resources and support to make it that way. A few weeks before she passed away, I went to see her in the hospital. She pressed into my hands a brochure for a youth book club project that she wanted to talk to me about. She still had so many dreams. 

Miss Marilyn and so many community members and residents that I have come to know are the inspiration and driving force for our work. I will be forever grateful for the power of these relationships to build and sustain Healthy Neighborhoods. 

As EBALDC marks our 45th anniversary, we will be gathering more stories like this one from our friends, family, community members, partners and more stakeholders that have made our impact possible. We would be honored for you to join us:

  • Follow us on social media: @EBALDC

 

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